Low voltage outlets are increasingly common in interior wall construction or reconstructions. Low voltage outlets now permeate all construction environments with the increasing use of telephones, televisions or monitors, computers, security devices, and other similar electronics and communication equipment. Low voltage outlets typically would include TV cable outlets, radio and TV antennas, some security systems, phone jacks, computer lines, and sound systems.
These outlets do not require a junction box so that all that is needed is a plate on which to mount a cover plate. Low voltage mounting plates have been widely employed. These plates have an opening with bendable tabs which are bent to wrap around the edge of an opening in a wall panel such as dry wall. The plate may be fastened to the drywall or in some cases not held other than by the bendable tab. When the wires are pulled through, the wires are telescoped into one or more holes in a cover plate, and the cover plate is fastened to the mounting plate.
Examples of prior low voltage mounting plates may be seen in Prior Groth et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,825. Other examples would be the well known MP1 or MP2 mounting brackets sold by ERICO Inc. of Solon, Ohio, under the trademark CADDY.RTM..
Once the wall panel or drywall is in place, getting such low voltage wiring through the wall is difficult. In new interior wall construction or reconstruction, it is customary to install wiring or conduit for the wiring after the studding is in place, but before the wall panels, plastering, or drywall is secured to the face of the studs, thus enclosing the wall. For new work there has been developed an MP1S plate mounting plate which may be secured to a stud. The rectangular opening on such plate has no bendable tabs.
Typically, conduit has to be supported on the stud near the mounting plate location and requires a fastener or groinmet for proper installation or mounting on the stud. In any event, considerable planning is required so that the conduit is accessible through the opening for a mounting plate. A simple error can lead to expensive reconstruction. In applications that don't use conduit, the wire generally dangles freely inside the mounting plate or hole and may well get shifted or go back up between the studs during drywall or other finish material installation. In such event, what should be a simple task is not.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a low voltage mounting plate which could be secured directly to a wood or metal stud, before drywall or other finish material installation, and to which conduit or wiring may be secured, all to ensure convenient accessibility to the opening for ease of final installation. In this manner, the mounting plate would be more firmly and accurately fixed to the wall with the installation problems noted above avoided.